DVD Shopping Bag: Iron Man Rise of the Technovore (Mania.com)

By:Robert T. Trate Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2013Source: Mania.com

I love the summer blockbusters. With their arrival, tons of new products will be introduced or re-introduced into the mainstream. With established properties like Iron Man, there will figures and cartoons that will keep the hype burning long into the the next film. Today, Sony Pictures released Iron Man Rise of the Technovore on Blu-ray and DVD - an Anime style adventure featuring the armor wearing Avenger. Fear not as War Machine (soon to be the Iron Patriot), Black Widow, Hawkeye, and even the Punisher are along for the ride. How does Iron Man Rise of the Technovore rank? Not as well as one would hope.

The adventure begins with some stunning visuals and back and fourth banter as Iron Man (voiced by Matthew Mercer) and War Machine (James C. Mathis III) race to Stark Industries’ launch of a new satellite. This satellite will help S.H.I.E.L.D. police the world. Many people are calling it the end of personal freedom. However, Tony Stark ensures the world that it will only be used for good. Of course, the bad guys show up during the launch and wreck havoc. A new villain arrives on the scene who calls himself Technovore, a villain who wears the next evolution in bio-mechanical armor that not even the great Iron Man can stop.

It all sounds good. It all looks good. In fact, the animation is amazing. Where it really falls short is the story and the acting. After the upteenth action sequence, I felt as if I was waiting for my turn during a video game. The action scenes, though breathtaking, went on and on. When the story did arrive, Iron Man on the run, I felt very little danger or apprehension to anything. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants Iron Man to answer some questions on the attack and that seems to be about it. Iron Man wants to find out who did this destruction and how he can stop them. Seems like a simple 5 minute conversation, but, instead, we are forced to have our heroes fight one another. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing the likes of Hawkeye and Black Widow get the upper hand on the far superior Iron Man. It’s just I don’t need an hour and 28 minutes of it.

Let’s talk about voice acting, shall we? I have read your posts here on Mania on all the DC Universe animated features. I know, as you know, that the right actor behind the character can make all the difference. Here, we are given Matthew Mercer as Tony Stark/ Iron Man. Mercer (see IMDB credits here) has a great body of work, but his most noticeable lead voice is that of Tygra from new the Thundercats TV Series. This does not bode well when Eric Loomis has done a perfect Tony Stark on Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes for two seasons. My other big complaint is the blatent bad imitation of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury by John Eric Bentley. It’s gut wrenching and a complete distraction. Finally, we come to what should have been the highlight to the piece and that is Norman Reedus as the Punisher. The Walking Dead star should have been cast as Hawkeye in this animated feature. The Punisher/ Frank Castle should never have the voice or inflections that Reedus supplied him with. It made the Punisher sound like a twenty-something instead of a hardened vigilante. As Hawkeye, Reedus could have brought that down to Earth warrior we saw every week to a whole new character. Instead, all we can think about is how mis-cast he was.

I’m sure that Sony had some licensing permission or rights to do this piece before Disney took over. The villain, though inventive and formidable, was dull onscreen. I felt as if I was watching a bad Anime Video Game tie-in film like Dead Space: Downfall (see review). To be fair, though, I was entertained by that. This had incredible visuals with a weak story. With such a rich history of Iron Man archs, why did Sony go this route? Then again, how can DC Comics have great animated films and Marvel doesn’t? If you were looking for some solid filler to hold you over until Iron Man 3 arrives, look elsewhere.